Ph.D. Thesis Proposal – Riccardo Forni

• Supervisor – Paolo Gargiulo, Professor School of Engineering at Reykjavik University and of Director Inst. f. Biomed. and Neural Engineering/ Med. Technology Centre 
• Co-Supervisor – Cristina Corsi, University of Bologna
• Committee - Magnús Kjartan Gíslason, Reykjavik University and Leandro Pecchia, Campus Biomedico Rome

Title - Medical Imaging Transformation: towards an improved diagnosis, evaluation and surgical practice

Abstract - In the era of medical innovation, the digitalization of medical imaging has emerged as a transformative force, reshaping the landscape of diagnosis and treatment planning. The proposal aims to explore the impact of digital technologies in mastering enhanced precision medicine, efficiency, and accessibility they bring to healthcare practices. From the evolution of traditional film-based imaging to the era of high-resolution digital scans, the work examines how novel technologies can shift even more diagnostic capabilities and pave the way for novel approaches in surgical planning.

The focus is on the importance of personalized medicine: the key factor is the capability of creating a reliable patient-specific 3D model from medical images, Computed Tomography and/or Magnetic Resonance, taking advantage of different segmentation pipelines.

Knowing the physics behind the image and the condition of the scanned subject, the pixel's brightness can be related to the tissue absorption properties. This virtual histology approach is then used to quantitatively study the composition of biological tissue from their 3D densitometric distribution and use this metric to create a profile for healthy and pathological subjects.

In terms of digitalization, the work explores the capabilities of a novel 3D printing technology for manufacturing anatomies: Digital Anatomy Printing. This section investigates the fabrication of dedicated materials to enhance the tactile feedback of the printed organ to improve the user experience.

In addition, the same 3D models are imported and/or created in a Virtual Reality environment for an exploratory study involving surgeons and engineers about the quality of the VR experience compared to a physical 3D model.